Pac-12, Georgia avoid playoff elimination
The last word before the College Football Playoff selection committee starts ranking teams was elimination.
With most of the top contenders taking the weekend off, a bunch of second-tier playoff hopefuls were trying to stay in the race Saturday. No. 7 Oregon, No. 8 Georgia and No. 9 Utah can look forward to seeing where they are positioned Tuesday when the first CFP rankings are revealed.
No. 6 Florida, thanks for playing. The Gators took their second loss of the season, against Georgia this time, and are done. A twoloss team has yet to reach the playoff. It might happen eventually, but if it does it will be a conference champion. The Gators are likely locked out of the Southeastern Conference championship game after handing first place and the tiebreaker to Georgia.
The Bulldogs have been off the radar since being upset at home by South Carolina last month. Facing Florida was a chance for Georgia to re-establish itself as a team that many thought could break up the Alabama-Clemson national championship monopoly.
Jake Fromm had his best game in about a month as time and again Georgia turned to its junior quarterback to convert on third down against Florida. The
Bulldogs converted 12 of 18 third downs and Fromm was 20 for 30 for 279 yards and two touchdowns.
The Bulldogs are still short on offensive explosiveness, which could make it tough to get through No. 1 LSU or No. 2 Alabama down the road. Then again, they also might have the best defense in the SEC.
Over in the Pac-12, it was a very good day for the conference’s playoffs hope, with Utah and Oregon both passing tricky road tests.
The Utes were 1-6 against Washington since moving to the Pac-12. They took an early shot from the Huskies but dominated the second half to win the first game of the high-stakes Pac-12 doubleheader and ensure the doomsday scenario for the conference would not be activated.
Underrated is a weird compliment. Who exactly is doing the rating? It seems, however, to fit Utah quarterback Tyler Huntley, who outplayed the highly touted Jacob Eason in Seattle.
“He’s one of the elite quarterbacks in the country and I stand by that,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said.
The Utes then became Oregon fans.
The Ducks fell behind 10-0 early and then buried USC, which beat Utah early this season and needed to be handed another loss to avoid tiebreaker complications for the Utes.
The victory put Oregon and Utah on a clear path to a Pac-12 championship game matching 11-1 teams, with the winner without question a serious playoff contender. The Ducks have the Arizona schools and the Civil War game against Oregon State, which looks like it might be tougher than it has been the last two years when Oregon won by a combined 124-25.
Utah’s remaining games are against suddenly revitalized UCLA, Arizona and Colorado.
When the first playoff rankings come out Tuesday, how will they look? A guess: 1, LSU 2, Ohio State 3, Alabama 4, Clemson 5, Penn State 6, Georgia 7, Oregon 8, Oklahoma 9, Utah 10, Baylor